


Hellenders - Episode 2: Team Building

by LaughingThalia



Series: HELLENDERS (Demonhunters) [2]
Category: Artemis: Requiem (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Wonder Woman (Comics), Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Demon Hunters, Demons, Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-13 21:26:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17495660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingThalia/pseuds/LaughingThalia
Summary: Demon Hunter. Not bad for a woman who was literally the Princess of Hell.





	1. Dead of Night

**Author's Note:**

> This has elements from Artemis Requiem 2 and 3 and then I put some stuff from A R 3 and WW v2 123 in Ep 3.

**Episode 2: Team Building**

**Act I**

**Scene i**

 

Everything hurts. She’s just fought her way out of hell and clawed her way into her own grave and like a newborn baby her skin feels raw and alien to the world. But she’s no newborn, and Hades still burns within her. Maybe that’s all that keeps her standing. Maybe it’s knowing she’s all that stands between her sister, Diana, and whatever thugs are approaching her in a graveyard in the dead of night.

 

Dead of night. How fitting. 

 

Why is it called the dead of night when it is in the darkness that the night finds itself most alive?

 

Diana and her had rarely got along in all their time spent together but when they had she realised that everything she though the Princess of Themyscira would be like, Diana was the opposite. She took the words of honour and peace that her mother liked to preach and spout at them and she put them into practise. When she looked at the Themyscirans, she saw hypocrites. When she looked at Diana, all she saw was her sister.

 

Maybe Artemis had been distracted by caring for Diana, maybe she was still reeling from her resurrection, for whatever reason she heard these men approach but she did not notice when one of these thugs grabbed her from behind and yelled “GOT HER!”

 

The man who had grabbed her was strong. For a man. She could feel his muscles on her back and wrapping around her body as he tried to hold her in place but she couldn’t see much of him, she was focusing more on his friend running at her from the front, “Hold her down! I have the cables!”

 

They wished to bind her? Tie her up? Not likely. 

 

She swung out and her boot hit the equally muscled blond man running towards her with cables, square in the jaw. He went flying back, clearly not expecting that level of resistance. She used the momentum of her swing to pull her torso forward, throwing the man holding her off balance and causing him to loosen his grip on her, in his moment of weakness she pulled herself free and as she spun around to face him she brought the full force of her fist directly into his face.

 

She could get a better look at him now, he was tall, taller than her and she was 6’ 1”, he was brunette with the most ridiculous ponytail she had ever seen and had an aex tied to a chain wrapped around his body, ready for use. She approved of his weapons choice, she loved axes, not so much his choice of hairstyle.

 

Before he could react, she grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands and slammed him, head first, into the grave dirt. He hit the ground with a satisfying thud.

 

They hadn’t put up much of a challenge for her but they were certainly skilled, and their choice in weapon suggested that they weren’t thugs or grave robbers. What were they doing here? It seems the two Amazons and these two men weren’t the only one visiting a Gateway Cemetery in the middle of the night. 

 

She could hear footsteps, as sure as her name was Artemis, there was someone running towards her, a woman. And there was someone chasing her.

 

Now  _ these _ guys were thugs. They grabbed the woman and pulled her close to them. “Why don’t you make this easier on everyone and give us the gun.”

 

“I’m a cop, I’ll-

 

“You’re a rent-a-cop.” The man taunted her “Probably couldn’t even make the academy.”

 

Artemis snuck closer and saw a uniformed black woman being held captive by three boneheads. They all had black ski masks pulled over their heads but 2 of them had very identifiable and unique tattoos on display and they were all wearing medallions on their necks. Worryingly, they were all armed with pipes and shovels.

 

“People know where I am.” The woman attempted, “If I don’t report back-”

 

“By that time this will all be over and it will be all over the 6 o’clock news and 3 people will care.”

 

His friend laughed, leering “I can see the headlines now: Local woman, raped and killed in graveyard.”

 

Artemis’ vision narrowed, she saw red and quick as she could in the darkness she grabbed one of the men and silenced him with a hand over his mouth and a harsh tap to the head, knocking him unconscious. 

 

The other two men looked around confused, “Where’d Sixer go?”

 

Of course he’d have a silly code name like ‘Sixer’, “What the hell, Joe?”

 

The aforementioned ‘Joe’ groaned “No names Ray! And someone’s here.”

 

“You just said no names! And you’re right, looks like we got a local hero on our hands.” Ray held up his shovel like a baseball bat, ready to batter whoever was around, “Show yourself.” There was a yelp and suddenly Joe was gone too “Joe?” Ray growled in frustration, and pulled the ‘cop’ towards up, “Give yourself up or I’ll kill her, I swear to God I will!”

 

Artemis was behind him in an instant, knife to his throat so he could feel the cold metal on his jugula, “Your oaths to a God I do not acknowledge mean nothing to me. Your men are dead, surrender or join them.”

 

He gave up pretty quickly after that and after knocking him out, she held out a hand to the grateful woman, “Thank you.”

 

“You’re an idiot. Why are you in a graveyard at night.”

 

“Well I-”

 

“I don’t actually care. Just don’t do it again.” Artemis turned her back in the woman to deal with the remaining man.

 

The woman looked down at the ground and then back at Artemis before looking around in the dark, “Those men,” she pointed at two men tied to a tree “They don’t look dead to me.”

 

“That’s because they’re not.  _ ‘Your men are dozing, surrender now or they may be revived at any moment’  _ didn’t sound as threatening.”

 

The woman started to smile “So you don’t kill? Like a hero? Like a superhero?”

 

“I never said I didn’t kill. And I’m no hero. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

 

“Well you’re my hero, you saved me just now.” She held out her hand in introduction “I’m Hank Jessup. Well I mean I’m Henrietta Jessup but people call me Hank.”

 

Artemis didn’t answer as she secured and tied up the third man.

 

Hank stood back, awkwardly “I know you said you didn’t care why I was here but someone had to try. There’s this cult, the White Brotherhood, they’ve been going around messing with graves. It’s disrespectful, someone has to protect the dead.”

 

“So you’re grave security?”

 

“Um no, I actually work across the street, I work security for Freson Enterprises, but I saw them coming in here… I hate working for Freson, I wanted to help people not some big nameless, faceless corporation.”

 

Artemis finally looked back at her “So what happened?”

 

Hank sighed “Life happened. So what about you? How did you end up in a grave yar din the middle of the night?”

 

Artemis was silent for a second as she thought about just how she’d ended up in this place at this time, just at the right moment to save this woman’s life. “Death happened.”

 

“What-?”

 

“Follow me. And try not to make as much noise as a herd of elephants.”

 

“Yes chief.” Hank replied, understanding the dismissal for what it was, she followed Artemis through the darkness.

 

Suddenly Artemis stopped, and Hank almost went barrelling into her back, “Look.” There were lights up ahead, it looked like torches, fire. There were more people here. “Follow.” She instructed. She ducked down and slung through the darkness, keeping to the shadows as they approached the camp of people who had set up, Hank followed.

 

“Grand Priest Wulf, look what we found.” A man dressed in white robes came into view from the other side, holding one of the men Artemis had taken out when she’d been revived, behind him was another robe-clad man dragging the other one, the brunette one. “Superheroes.”

 

“Heroes?” The man that was clearly the leader, Grand Priest Wulf, turned around, he was wearing red robes and was standing over a pentagram with a latino man strapped down in the centre. “What’s your name.”

 

The blond one sent him a charming smile “The name’s Sureshot. So Grand Priest? Is that like High Priest and Grand Wizard mixed into one you Nzai psycho?”

 

Wulf replied with a harsh slap “ _ Sacrifices _ don’t talk back.”

 

“Sacrifices?” The other hero exclaimed in shock.

 

Sureshot gestured to the man in the pentagram “So what, we’re the same as him?”

 

“You’re  _ nothing _ alike! He’s a beaner, a dirty  _ Mexican _ infesting this country!”

 

“I’m from Colombia!” The man yelled in the background.   
  


“You are blond and white and I can see that American blood runs through your veins.”

 

“ _ Oh great _ , hear that Deadfall? I’m an Aryan wet dream.” Sureshot said sarcastically. His eyes met Artemis’ as she climbed a tree and gained the high ground and he sent her a wink in acknowledgment of some kind of temporary pact. Whoever this guy was at least he wasn’t a Nazi.

 

Artemis pulled her bow on them, “Let these men go.”

 

Wulf spun around and his men all pulled the guns out and pointed it up at the tree “IDIOTS! You let this- this  _ witch _ sneak up on you?! What are you waiting for, shoot her!”

 

Artemis shot an arrow and it whizzed through one guy and into another, taking out two birds with one stone. Of course there was more than two guys and some of them had guns too but Hank was her backup and she got on board with their non-existent plan pretty quickly. She held her own gun up “Freeze dirtbag!” It was cheesy, she’d admit but this was basically everything she’d ever wanted, she’d play with it.

 

“You think Mrs Robin Hood up there can hit all of us?”

 

“You wouldn’t see it coming.”

 

The man gave up his gun and Hank moved on to Wulf, “Give yourself up,  _ Adolf _ .”

 

“I’m the God-Scourge of Boston! I need to wash the streets of Black and Jews and Mexicans and-”

 

“I don’t think God’s on board with this Mr Evangelical. You’re under arrest for… attempted murder and trespassing. You have the right to remain silent-”

 

“You’re not a real cop!”

 

“It’s a citizen’s arrest.” She sighed. Some people really were completely delusional.

 

“I won’t be arrested by a  _ Nergo _ .”

 

God, it wasn’t the N-word but coming from him it sure sounded like it. He pulled a wrestling move, flipping her over his shoulder, thankfully she managed to stick the landing otherwise her back could have been in trouble. Wulf leapt up and Artemis held her bow steady, she was on her last arrow and he was coming fast she couldn’t miss this shot. She breathed, pulled back the string and let her arrow fly. It’s aim was true, the target was not. He moved his head to the side of the arrow and caught it between his teeth and held it here like a rabid dog. How-

 

  
“You got no arrows left but we have plenty of bullets.” Wulf grinned malevolently.

 

Artemis didn’t fear death for herself, even if it was just a little too soon to return to her husband, especially with the way they’d left things.

 

One man approached from the direction she’d come from “Hey boss, you’re never gonna guess who we found! It’s the Wonder Woman, and she’s out cold. Let’s just say she’s more than one guys type if you know what I mean.” Artemis growled, she knew what he meant. She’d foolishly left Diana unguarded in this graveyard crawling with alt-right cultists. “The red head’s cute too, let’s not kill her before we have some fun.”

 

“If you want to have some fun with the princess, first you’ll have to wake her up.”

 

As if she’d heard the perfect line for a dramatic entrance, Diana Prince came leaping over  her head and threw two guys she’d dragged with her at two other guys. “ I was just talking to your friends Artemis. I heard they’re looking for some fun, is it too late to join the party?” She joked but Artemis could see the effort of movement in her face.

 

“Why no, they were just discussing their terms of surrender. Weren’t you Wulf?”

 

Wulf sighed, “Drop your guns.” He commanded his men. He had more fire power but he didn’t like his odds against Wonder Woman. “We surrender.”


	2. Your City

**Scene ii**

Artemis hadn’t been to an American hospital before. She’d visited a few hospitals that were in trouble in some developing countries. She’d only gone to the worst ones, the ones that needed help, she had never seen the point of her going to the hospital for medical attention when she could go back to Themyscira and have an amazon medic look after her but Diana insisted. She wasn’t the only patient, that also had to help the poor Colombian sacrifice-candidate, Alejandro Santiago, he was absolutely traumatised. Which was understandable given that he’d almost just been sacrificed to some White Power cult.

 

Hank was on the phone with her bosses, they weren’t happy she’d left her post even if it had resulted in multiple arrests of white supremacists, murderers and rapists. “Nothing at Freon got stolen, and the White Brotherhood Cult was there- it’s not like I could stand by and- what! You wanted me to just do nothing! A man was almost sacrificed!”

 

Artemis felt very out of place in a hospital dressed in her hell clothes. She was glad to get out of the spotlight and into the privacy of Diana’s room. When she sat up in bed in her white gown covered in bandages and plasters and gods knows what else she smiled and Artemis couldn’t help but think that Diana always managed to look like a princess and Artemis always felt like a pauper.

 

“Looks like you saved me again.”

 

“We saved each other. I wasn’t keeping count.” She smiled sweetly, blue eyes glistening mischievously.

 

“I always do.” Artemis mumbled, not quite looking at the princess. 

 

“Artemis, it’s lovely to see you. When you- I missed you.”

 

Artemis finally looked up and green eyes met blue as the two amazons from different tribes once again came to an understanding. “I missed you too. I see you’re Wonder Woman again.”

 

Diana smiled sadly, “The world needed a Wonder Woman.”

 

“It’s better that it’s you.”

 

“You weren’t a bad Wonder Woman.”

 

“I was tricked into becoming cheap entertainment.”

 

“I should have helped you navigate Man’s World.”

 

Artemis scoffed “We both know I never would have let you. I was too proud, you had humility. That’s why you’re the real Wonder Woman. And it’s why I can’t stay here in gateway. I need a city that’s not yours.”

 

“I don’t work here anymore, I’ve moved to Washington… they need me there. I’m finally doing what you always told me to do. Fight societal injustices, not just petty crimes and alien invasions with the Super Friends. Gateway isn’t my city.”

 

“I’m glad you’ve widened your scope of Justice but we both know Gateway will always be your city.”

 

“If you need a place… I may know a place where you’ll be the best Wonder Woman.” She took Artemis hand in both of hers and Artemis didn’t pull away. She really had missed her sister.


	3. Recruitment Drive

**Scene iii**

 

She didn’t quite know why Sureshot and Deadfall had decided to wait around in the hospital until Sureshot posed against the wall and smiled at her “I supposed you’re wondering who were are?”

He had a crush on her. How sweet. And Artemis didn’t deny he was hot and he seemed nice enough but her heart was still in Hell along side Belyllioth. She smiled back equally as sweet, she’d perfected that smile pretending to Dalkriig that she was happy “Only in the sense that I’d wonder where the decaying corpse of a hellhound came from.”

 

Deadfall snorted with laughter, clearly he liked his partner’s crush taking him down a rung or two.

 

Sureshort recovered pretty quickly, leaning off the wall “I’m Sureshot, that’s Deadfall. We’re part of a covert organisation called The Hellenders.”

 

Deadfall grinned, clearly he thought way too much of himself, “Maybe you’ve heard of us?”

 

She raised an eyebrow “It wouldn’t be covert if I had.”

 

Deadfall frowned “Don’t get smart with me doll, we battle the Supernatural on the daily and you came crawling straight out of Hell. If I had my way you’d be-”

 

Sureshot put a hand on his chest and he shut up. Artemis laughed “clearly you don’t have your way so I have nothing to worry about.”

 

Sureshot smiled at her again and held out a business card, why a covert operation had business cards she did not know, “We could always use good fighters and you look like the best. Think about it…”

 

Artemis stared at the card in thought. A demon hunter? When she was in love with a demon? When she had escaped hell and was no better than anything they would hunt? Hank’s yell distracted her from her thought process “You can’t fire me because I quit!” She hung up her cell phone and slammed it down on the sofa next to her. The three looked at her in question and she sighed “Apparently the boss didn’t appreciate me saving that guy and stopping a graveyard from getting desecrated. I finally do something cop-like and they fire me for it. Figures.”

 

Artemis took the card and looked at the cursive writing, the lack of information, and nodded to herself “Gentlemen, my associate and I accept your offer, we’ll join the Hellenders.

 

“Associate?” Sureshot asked, looking over at Hank Jessup “Um I don’t think so.”

 

Deadfall nodded in agreement, “ We pick who gets recruited and there’s no way in Hell she’s ever getting on the team-”


	4. Truth

**Scene i**

“So I’m going to the headquarters of an international team of Demon Hunters?” Hank asked gleefully.

 

Deadfall sighed “It would seem that way.”

 

“Artemis, are you not excited?”

 

“I’ve been Wonder Woman, dead and a bride to an immortal Hell Prince. Going to Pennsylvania is hardly that exciting.”

 

“But there’s Demonhunters in Pennsylvania!”

 

“There’s apparently demonhunters here.” She pointed at the two boys.

 

“You know my name is Henrietta Sojourner Jessup, I was named after Sojourner Truth, the abolitionist, so I’d always stay on the right path. I’ve wanted to be a cop, to do something to actually help people my entire life. Now thanks to you I’m going to be able to fight Demons and keep evils at bay. Thank you Artemis.”

 

“Sojourner Truth, it’s a worthy name you have there.”

 

“What about you? Artemis?”

 

“My name was almost some kind of cruel joke. The gods I worship are Egyptian, my name of course is Greek The Greek gods abandoned us a long time ago although Hippolyta would probably claim we abandoned them, never mind that she betrayed her own sister so severely.”

 

Deadfall interrupted “No more chit chat about names.”

 

“Why? Is A tangled mess of fallen trees and bushes getting offended?” Hank asked.

 

“What?”

 

“Deadfall, you know… that’s the secondary definition.”

 

“It was supposed to be about a trap that you never saw coming and fell right into!”

 

Sureshot sighed “What he was trying to say is we’re here so let’s get out of the plane and into base to meet the boss. And remember don’t mention his hook, don’t look at his peg leg.”

 

“What is he, a pirate?” Hank asked jokingly.

 

“And definitely don’t say that.” Sureshot replied, dead serious.

“Okay then.”


	5. Hunters

**Scene ii**

 

“You can call me Nathaniel.”

 

Artemis nodded, casing his office “So I take it that’s not your name.”

 

“No, but it will do. I’m the boss here. I founded and fund the Hellenders.”

 

“Why? Why make a team of Demonhunters?”

 

“I used to consult with the CIA and FBI on matters with the occult, I’ve had many run ins with the supernatural which have cost me dearly,” he tapped his hook hand on the table “But things are getting worse and the US Government is not equipped to handle all the things crawling out of the Inferno.”

 

“Like me.”

 

“We’re demon hunters, my men tell me you’re on the right side of things and  _ Wonder Woman _ seems to be behind you. This,” ‘Nathaniel’ picked up an elaborate gold edged book “Is my father’s bible, he was a preacher who fought against evil, as he fought, now so must I.”

 

“And we march behind you on your crusade?” Artemis asked, “Fight your Holy War?”

 

“You’re an Amazon, you don’t believe in a Christian God, so I get why you’re weary of me.”

 

“That’s not why I’ weary of you, trust me.”

 

Deadfall yelled angrily “Hey, show some respect!”

 

Nathaniel silenced him with a look “Actually, you two ladies won’t be marching behind anything. You may fight the good fight but you did just crawl out of Hell and your friend here… my team is trained to the highest degree I screen them rigorously, train them endlessly and everyone on this team is handpicked by me! She’s barely even a cop.”

 

“Wait a damn minute!” Artemis started to protest.

 

“It’s okay Artemis.” Hank sighed, he was right, she wasn’t cut out for fighting demons, she could barely handle regular criminals.

 

Nathaniel turned to the blonde woman standing to his right, she had well defined muscles and her eyes were sharp, Artemis recognised the look of a warrior, “Shock, why don’t you show these two out.”

 

“I’d be happy to.” She replied. She steps towards Artemis and lays her hand upon her and suddenly Artemis can feel it, see it, smell it in the air. The stench of death, decay and perfidy.

 

Without thinking Artemis switches to the language she had picked up from the demons, the language that Belyllioth had painstakingly taught her, that had led to them becoming friends, to them becoming so much more, “ _ <I know hell spawn when I see one.> _ ”

 

The other occupants of the room all looked at her in confusion, of course these so called Demon hunters didn’t even speak Infernum “Pardon?” Nathaniel asked. Of course he was too focused on Artemis to notice his bodyguard transform into a demon behind him.

 

Shock grew at an alarming rate, it was like watching the Hulk transform and she let out a vile screech that had the other four stumbling back. And then it let out a shot of acid from its tail getting awfully close to where Sureshot was standing, Artemis leapt to his aid, pushing him out of the way and pulling her bow form her back. Of course she had no arrows, Deadfall hadn’t allowed her the chance to retrieve them. So she was an archer with a bow and no ammunition in a room full of Demon Hunters who couldn’t see a demon that had been standing right next to them.

 

Before she had died she’d had a bow, a bow that answered her call and appeared when she needed it with as many arrows as she had the strength and focus to summon and when she’d died her bow hadn’t answered her but maybe that was because she’d been in Hell. Maybe now it would answer her call one again.

 

Sureshot, true to his name, pulled out one of his many guns and took aim, his shot was returned with Hellfire and they all went flying back form the force of it, all except Artemis, she was used to Hellfire, she’d spent weeks in it, pain had soon become her friend in the Inferno.

 

“Cara Domina!” Artemis called out, her bow, her ‘dear lady’ as she had named it and suddenly she was armed with a bow and a quiver full of arrows and a smile on her face. The beast was turned away from her and from the back it reminded her of the hordes she had fought in Hell, it was towering over Sureshot, the only one of them so far that had fought back and so the only threat. She bared her teeth, took aim and shot it in the back, once it had turned to face her she shot it again and again, in the eyes, and all over her body until the beast fell  down before her. “So you screened her did you,  _ Nathaniel _ ?” Artemis quipped smugly, standing over the wreck of the room and the downed beast that had once been a beautiful woman.

 

Nathaniel looked appalled “I can’t believe it! Shock was my most trusted adviser, my bodyguard and she was a demon? How could I not have seen it!”

 

“That’s the question, isn’t it.” Artemis crouched down over the body, and inspected it. When I spoke to her in Infernum she seemed surprised.”

 

“Maybe she was shocked you knew the language too, no pun intended.” Hank supplied.

 

Artemis shook her head “I don’t doubt that she was but I think she was shocked  _ she _ knew it.”

 

Sureshot caught on to what she meant pretty soon “You think she was possessed?”

 

Deadfall frowned “But how? She hasn’t been on a mission in ages.”

 

Hank shrugged, “Maybe she’s been possessed for ages. Maybe the Demon got in here.”

 

Nathaniel scoffed “That’s impossible, this place is demon proof.”

 

“Apparently not.” Hank shot back pointing at the dead demon currently sprawled out on the floor.

 

Sureshot snapped his fingers “Her house!”

 

“What about her house?” Deadfall asked.

 

“She’s got family in Pennsylvania so she goes back home all the time, maybe a demon got her there!”

 

Nathaniel frowned “And how do you know that, the Hellenders aren’t supposed to know personal details about each other.”

 

Sureshot cringed “Sorry boss but it build moral, turst. I’m team leader, I need to know who I’m leading.”

 

“You may be team leader out on the field, but you’d do well to  remember who runs the Hellenders.”

 

Sureshot nodded “Don’t worry sir, I haven’t forgotten. Permission to investigate her house?”

 

“Take the new recruits with you.”

 

“New recruits?” Artemis asked “Weren’t you just about to kick us out?”

 

Nathaniel sighed “We’re short staffed. Welcome aboard.”


	6. The Big Guns

**Scene iii**

 

Sureshot grinned, “Well kids, get ready for your first mission with the Hellenders.”

 

Hank smiled “Where to?”

 

“Far Castle.”

 

“Shock lived in a castle?”

 

“I mean it’s not technically a castle, it’s a really big mansion that’s called Far Castle.” Sureshot ushered them out of the room and down the hall, “Before we hit the road, we need to get you two suited up.”

 

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing now?” Artemis asked.

 

Sureshot looked her up and down ‘It’s very Wonder Woman chic but we try to come off a little more government agency then superhero group when we do house visits. Shock’s family will be there and we’re going to have to tell them she died.”

 

The two woman reviewed the changes of clothes and Hank looked delighted, “We look like the Men in Black!”

 

Sureshot nodded “That’s basically what we are except demons instead of aliens. I’ll leave you two to get dressed, the armoury is right next door but I assume you’re good with a gun Hank, and you’ll stick with… your magic bow and arrow Arti?”

 

“Don’t call me Arti. But yes.”

 

Sureshot left them to change into their suits and Hank pulled on her hidden under jacket holsters with a grin “These are bad ass.”

 

Artemis looked up at the other woman and she couldn’t help but smile despite herself “You look very bad ass.”

 

Hank smiled back “ I hope Sureshot gets me a big gun.”

 

“You don’t want a big gun. You’re a woman so an enemy will underestimate you, you want to be able to pull a gun on your opponent and surprise them.”

 

Hank paused “Yeah you’re probably right. Besides I guess a big gun wouldn’t fit in these holsters.”

 


	7. Line Of Duty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cara Domina apparently means 'Dear Lady' which kinda came out of typing 'To Me Mistress' into google translate which is what she says in Rebirth. The bow she has now is based heavily on the Bow of Ra but isn't that, the one she has now just shoots regular arrows and doesn't take a toll on her. I'm saving the name Mistress for her axe because yes she's going to get a giant battle axe because that's bad ass.

**Scene iv**

 

When they left the room Sureshot was waiting for them outside with two guns which Hank slid into her holsters with a practised ease. “Let’s get going. Now remember her parents didn’t know she was a Demon Hunter and they can’t know what happened to her so we have to-”

 

“Lie to them.” Artemis finished for him.

 

“Yeah basically. I’ll do the talking you two just investigate. I’ll tell her we’re US Black Ops, need to know basis and that she was very brave. Oh and remember Shock’s name is- was Marcia Hargis if we operated on name basis we would all know that, it will seem odd if you don’t.”

 

Artemis narrowed her eyes “How comes you know so much about a team that’s supposed to be anonymous, even to each other.”

 

Sureshot shrugged “Like I said, my team trusts me more when they know me and I know them. Besides we’ve all been working together for so long and we have to keep so many secrets and travel a lot so we ended up being each others only friends. It would be insane if we didn’t know anything about each other.”

 

He knocked on the door and it was opened by an older lady who looked like an aged up version of Shock, in the background there was some workout video from the 80s playing, and the woman was wearing Legwarmers “Hello, how can I help you?” The woman asked, looking over the three suits  at her door.

 

“Hi Mrs Hargis, I’m Agent Denvers and these are my colleagues.”

 

“Agent?” mrs Hargis asked confused and concerned. “I assure you I haven’t done anything-”

 

“No Mrs Hargis that’s not it. May we come in?” He asked  softly.

 

“I suppose so.” She let them into the house and they all sat down in the living room.

 

He paused before he continued speaking, it was never easy to tell a parent their child was dead.  “We worked with your daughter. Marcia.”

 

“My daught- you worked with Marci? At an Agency? Which one?”

 

He winced “I’m afraid that’s on a need to know basis, just know that your daughter was extremely brave, the best among us.”

 

“Was?”

 

“I’m afraid… I’m afraid your daughter was killed in the line of duty.”

 

“No. No! No no no no no! Maria can’t be dead! She’s not an Agent! She works at a legal firm, she always tells me about cases she worked on! She was supposed to cook lasagna on Friday! She can’t be gone!” She broke down sobbing. Sureshot stared at her awkwardly unsure what to do and Artemis looked at her impassively. She’d lost a lot of people at a young age during the Demon War that had wiped out a great deal of Amazons, especially Bana Amazons, death was no stranger to her. She’d had this conversation before with parents.

 

Hank looked at the other two doing nothing except watching this heartbroken woman cry and scowled at them before getting up and wrapping her arms around the sobbing woman “I’m so sorry for your loss Ms Hargis.”

 

Lila Hargis clung to Hank like her life depended on it and that was when another woman came into the room concerned “Mom? What’s wrong?”

 

“Marcia’s dead! Oh Jessie, your sister is dead!”

 

“Oh my God!” Jessie rushed to her mother and took Hank’s place in the hug.  “Beth! Danny! Get down here now!”

 

There was a shuffle of feet from the stairs and then another woman and a men appeared at the door. “What happened?” The boy asked.

 

When Jessie failed to answer, Sureshot decided to help her out “I’m afraid Marcia has passed away.”

 

The boy’s eyes widened “How!”

 

The girl clamped a hand over her mouth in absolute shock “I don’t understand, who are these people?” She asked pointing at Artemis and her new company.

 

Sureshot stood up once again “We work for a government organisation which I’m not at liberty to tell you but your sister worked there too. She was killed in the line of duty, I’m so sorry.”

 

“Killed.” Marcia’s little sister Beth repeated “I told you! I knew this house was cursed!”

 

Danny, her older brother scoffed “Cursed! You’re insane!”

 

“Sorry, did you say curse?” Sureshot asked. “What curse?”

 

Danny looked at him weirdly “Don’t tell me you believe him? Your a government agent for God’s sake.”

 

Sureshot nodded “Yes but our organisation has enemies, often times ‘curses’ are signs of one of those enemies trying to do something. Would you mind if my colleagues here took a look around? Secured the house?”

 

Lila waved her hand around the house, “Go ahead. Danny show them around the house.”

 

The two Helleneders stood up and followed Danny out of the room Artemis paused “Wait Beth, could you come with us? Tell me about that curse?”

 

The four ended up separating, Danny showing Hank Marcia’s room and Artemis following Beth into another room “The water in here,” she pointed to a very fancy looking bathroom “It turns on by itself! Danny keeps saying it’s an old house but lights flicker, my stuff moves when I don’t move it, last knife, the doll Marcia got me threw itself out of a window! That’s not an old house, that’s some kind of ghost.”

 

Artemis nodded “I agree that is all very strange.” She approached the basin “So the sink just turned on by itself?” She ran the water for a second, trying to garner if the pipes of the fosset are old enough for Danny to be right. Suddenly a large tentacle grabbed her from behind “AH! Hecate!” She exclaimed. That was the second time in however many days she’d been taken by surprise, clearly she hadn’t recovered from her ordeal in Hell. Beth’s lips and eyes had turned a putrid green colour, her teeth to fangs and protruding from her back were a mess of writhing, wiggling tentacles; each one greener and viler than the last. “Beth!”

 

In Marcia’s room Hank looks around. She’s got posters on her wall of models and Vogue covers and one old Rock band that Hank remembers from her High school days. There’s makeup on her vanity mirror Hank even spots several different shades of MAC lipstick. She turns to Danny who’s scowling at a family picture of them all that Marcia had on her bedside “So this is Marcia’s room huh?”

 

Danny turns to her, picking up a teddy bear on Shock’s bed and sitting down on it “Beth’s a real nutcase. She’s always going on about how the house must be haunted.”

 

“And you don’t believe her?”

 

“The house was deserted for 30 years before we moved in. Mom and dad redid the whole house when they bought it, stripped it down. If there was a ghost here, mom would have renovated it out. Beth’s bonkers, she sees a few flickering lights in an old house and suddenly there’s ghosts.”

 

Hank nodded, of course Danny could be right, flickering lights in a house weren’t exactly the demon smoking gun but Shock had been possessed and it hadn’t been on a mission or on base which means something must have happened right here at Far Castle. “A diary.” She realised when she spotted a journal sitting on Marci’s bedside, next to the family photo. Hank picked it up and flicked through to the latest entry. It was dated yesterday.

 

_ ‘Something’s not right here. Mom does her exercises everyday but usually only for half an hour, she’s been in front of that TV in her dumb leg warmers for half a day. Jessie’s normal but Beth spent most of the day in the upstairs bathroom and all Danny does is talk about how crazy Beth is. No one’s acting like themselves. I’ll have to tell Nathaniel, maybe he can find something that I missed, maybe it’s nothing. Maybe Beth is right and we’re cursed.’ _

 

Hank turned around “I’m going to go show this to my boss-” Danny’s fist moved towards her face before she even had time to register it. As if he was moving in slow motion Hank managed to dodge out of the way, her eyes focused on the knife in his other hand “Oh shit.” She looked up at his face only to see his teeth were bared and he was foaming at the mouth “Oh shit!” She repeated, even more worried now. She’d literally just joined the Hellenders, she didn’t know how to fight Demons. Thankfully before she has to worry too much about fighting another possessed human an arrow pokes through his neck and splatter blood across the room. Hank looks behind him at the door and finds Artemis standing there sopping wet “Wow what happened to you?”

 

“Beth was some kind of water demon.”

 

Hank nodded, not as weirded out as she thought she would be and held up the diary “They must have all been possessed at the same time. I think the mom might be too.”

 

Artemis nodded, taking her word for it “Then we need to go and get Sureshot before he gets a nasty surprise.”

 

The two creep down the stairs, weapons drawn and at the ready, Artemis first. Hank is watching their backs and she’s surprised Artemis trusted her enough to do that. “You injured?”

 

“Nothing that can’t wait.” She stopped “Hang on, wait.”

 

“What is it?” Hank asked.

 

“Look at the room.”

 

Hank turned away from watching their six to looking down at what Artemis was seeing “What the hell happened?” The whole downstairs looked like it had been deserted for years “We were just down here.”

 

“We need to find Sureshot, now!”

 

“Danny said that the house had been deserted for 30 years before they got there. Maybe this is what it looked like?”

 

Artemis scowled “I don’t think that was Danny and Beth we just fought.”

 

“So they’re not possessed?”

 

“No, there are some demons who can make you see what the want you to see. Like projection. They could be mirroring the Hargis family and their house how it used to look.”

 

“But to what end?” Hank looked around every corner “There’s no one down here. That I can see at least.”

 

“I’m not sure yet. Was there a basement?”

 

“I didn’t see windows on the way in.”

 

“Then there must be an attic. Come on we can take one demon.”

 

Hank followed her upstairs “Except Jessie’s not here either.”

 

“That means either two hostages or two demons. Either way we’ll manage.”

 

They reached the second floor once again only instead of the lovely, made up hallway they’d just come from it was as derelict and dilapidated as downstairs had been. “There’s the trap door.” hank said pointing at a square on the ceiling that was almost invisible.

 

“Good eye. I’ll give you a boost.” The Amazon got down on one knee and linked her fingers. Hank placed one foot in her hands and held herself steady with her hands on Artemis’ shoulders. “3, 2, 1, go.” And she sprung up, giving Hank enough lift to reach the hatch and unlock the door. Of course there was no ladder so Hank had to climb through and then pull Artemis up after her.

 

They were confronted with a huge web with six figured cocooned inside it. On the web crawling towards them was a huge huge, spider looking demon. It glared at them with eight red eyes and bared it’s sharp fangs to them “Artemis, greetings from Hell.”

 

“Is that what this whole thing was about? Dalkriig wanted to spite me?”

 

“Of course not. That’s just an _added bonus_ , there are larger things at play here _girl_.”

 

“ARTEMIS!” Hank yelled, aiming her gun at something behind her.

 

The red head spun around and sure enough there was another demon, Jessie’s demon. “Release this family!”

 

Spider!Mom laughed and the Demon!Jessie seemed amused as well, reaching out to strike at Hank but she let out three shots directly at its head “I’m not dying on my first day!”

 

Artemis studied the spider demon and the cocoons behind her, it was a huge hulking black mass that seemed to suck whatever light was in the room into it, like a black hole. It had eight tiny blood shot eyes that seemed to be able to watch the whole room at once and it's legs were covered in large black hairs. Once Artemis had torn her eyes form the monstrosity and to the cocoons behind her she observed six figures. That mean the whole family including Shock and Sureshot were all in there. “Shock! Sureshot! Are you really just going to lie around, sleeping, waiting to be eaten by this deamon?! Your family's in there!”

 

“It’s no use, they can’t hear you.”

 

“Shock isn’t like everyone else! She was trained to the highest degree, screened rigorously, trained endlessly and was handpicked by the most paranoid son of a bitch to be his most trusted bodyguard and advisor. I guarantee you she won’t be subdued by the likes of a second rate demon like you!”

 

Artemis was almost surprised when a bolt of lighting cut through the webbing, striking the spider in the back. Artemis leapt over it as if fell from its webbing and onto the ground and pulled a knife hidden in her own jacket holster and stabbed it directly in the head. Brutal but efficient. 

 

Or not. The beast rose once again, growling and wailing and swiping at everyone in the enclosed space, it had been a bad move to fight them on their turf. There were too many civilians in danger and not enough room. Artemis pulled her bow from the air “ Cara Domina!” And took aim but it quickly pulled one of the half ripped cocoons in front of itself “Damn it.” Artemis was a perfect shot but this demon was perfect at taking human shields, she would have to shoot through Jessie, to hit that spider and there was no way she could do that.

 

Out of know where there was a bang and suddenly Jessie was splattered with Demon guts “AAAAAAH!”

 

As the monster fell to the side, finally dead, it revealed Sureshot standing behind it, covered in webbings, holding his own gun raised “I’ll have you know that I was trained to the same high standards as Shock and was chosen as team leader because of it so there’s no way in Hell I’m going to remain captured by this second rate Spider-Man cosplay either.”


	8. Requiem & Sojourner

**Act III**

 

Sureshot approached Artemis as she stood on the balcony looking over the town, “Hey Artemis, you know you did really well today.”

 

“Thank you.” She looked away from the view and at him instead. “You know, I was worried about you. When I realised we left you alone with ‘Marcia’s Mom’.”

 

“How did you know? About mirage demons? We’ve never come across ones like those. Did you meet them in Hell?”

 

“Yes. But not the one you’re thinking of. The Amazons have had a hard life. When I was 14 I was plunged head first into a demon war. It’s a miracle I survived to see 15 yet alone 25.”

 

“You’re 25?”

 

“Yeah I am.” She sighed “It feels like a lot longer. What about you?”

 

“I’m not supposed to say…”   
  


“Right. Of course. We’re all anonymous.”

 

Sureshot looked around to see if anyone was around and then  leaned in close to whisper, “I’m 27.”

 

“Seems like we’re both pretty young to be standing between the world and hellfire.”

 

“Yeah, Deadfall’s older than me, Myst likes to think she’s more skilled than me, Shock is clearly trusted more by Nathaniel. I never really figured out why he chose me to lead the team.”

 

“Because you’re the best one for the job Sureshot.”

 

“You know, Nathaniel’s working on code names for you and Hank.”

 

“Working on? I’m sure we both have names we’d rather use.”

 

“That’s not how it works. I mean I used to be Mr Weapon, the Living Arsenal before Nathaniel came along.”

 

“Mr Weapon?” Artemis laughed

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

“I have a question. We’re all supposed to be anonymous, even to each other but all of you know me and Hank by name.”

 

“You’re right, that is a bit unfair. I’ll even it up a bit. My name is Jackson 'Jax' Edwards.”

 

“I wouldn’t know if you were lying.”

“I’m not.” The two stared at each other for a moment and then Jax leaned forward and moved to kiss her. Artemis move back slightly, her heart was still in Hell even as it hammered in her chest. She was here. Was she ever getting back to Belyllioth? When she got back to Hell would she ever be able to see her? Would Bely even still be alive after what she pulled helping her and Diana escape? Those were all questions for another time, right now all she knew was that she loved Belyllioth more than anyone she’d ever loved before and she was never going to mess that up. 

 

“Don’t.”

“Why not?” the question was hostile, it wasn't dismissive, he simply wanted to know why. It was honest.

What would her new friend, the only person on the old team who was on her side say when she told him she was a demon hunter in love with a demon hunter? “Just don’t.”

“Okay.” He pulled back and they stood next to each other in silence for a second, neither knowing what to say. “I’m sorry.”

“Artemis! The boss is calling us!” Hank burst onto the balcony in excitement. She paused as she read the mood and look over at Artemis, concerned.

Artemis shook her head with a smile and started walking off the balcony “Let’s go see what he wants.”

Sureshot went with them since he knew it was the code naming ceremony and as team leader he should probably be there. He pretended to not notice the look Hank was trying to give Artemis that the red head was very determinedly ignoring. “Artemis, Henrietta. The two of you proved yourselves to be worthy additions to the Hellenders today and as such I think it’s about time we got you codenames. Shock and I ran your names and skills through the program and we got the most fitting names for you. Artemis you will be Javelin and Henrietta you will be Cudgel.”

“Cudgel? What in the world is a Cudgel?”

Artemis scowled “It’s a bludgeoning instrument. I won’t be answering to that name.”

“Neither will I!”

“So what do you two propose?”

Artemis looked at Hank with a knowing look “Requiem.”

“And Sojourner.”

 

Nathaniel sighed tiredly,  “Well Requiem and Sojourner, welcome to the team.”


End file.
